Doctors accused of performing wrong operation in Agartala

How often do we hear of the mistakes a surgeon makes like leaving an instrument inside a patient, carrying out a wrong procedure, operating on the wrong body part, or even the wrong person! Turns out these errors that should never, ever occur happen quite frequently!

In an apparent case of gross medical negligence, doctors at the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) have made yet another blunder! They cut open a patient’s lower abdomen and performed a surgery upon the urethra instead of conducting a biopsy of his mouth on Friday September 13.

Wrong operation conducted
Ratan Das (55), a small trader hailing from Ampi village under Amarpur subdivision in South Tripura district, was afflicted with an uneven growth in his mouth and consulted an oncologist. Das was prescribed a biopsy of the mouth by head of surgery at AGMC, Dr Pradip Sarkar.

Das was admitted to the male surgical ward for the procedure on Friday. Apparently, another patient with the same name had been admitted to the same ward for a surgery of urinal bladder.

In a case of mistaken identity, Dr Chakma, Dr Debbarma and Dr Sen operated upon the urinary tract in the lower abdomen of Das instead of carrying out a biopsy of the mouth.

On realization of the error, the patient was reportedly forced to sign a letter of consent and discharged Saturday after wrong entries were made.

Jhulan Das, wife of the patient disclosed, “I learnt about the wrong operation upon my husband, when he was screaming in his hospital bed on Saturday.I asked the doctor why my husband’s lower abdomen was operated upon. But the doctors on duty threatened me to remain silent or face dire consequences.”

Police complaint filed
On Saturday, Jhulan filed a complaint at the East Agartala police station and the state health minister. The officer-in-charge Satyen Basu Roy Chowdhury, said cases against the three doctors had been registered under Sections 338, 506 and 34 of the IPC. Given that the sections are bailable, it triggered a furor and led to criticism from the Opposition.

Though a probe into the wrong surgery has been initiated, the doctors were yet to be detained. “We have sought relevant papers from the hospital and once these are available, things will move fast,” Chowdhury said.

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